I hear young people furious at Boomers in particular, but old people in general, for causing a problem, then abdicating responsibility on acting, instead saying “I am encouraged by young people acting.” What jerks! Act yourself! Stop capitulating and continuing your insouciant damaging. You have more assets, connections, resources, and what it takes to accomplish things. Not acting personally but teaching young people just teaches them not to act and[…] Keep reading →

Before I was born, the image of Earth from space changed not just a generation, but forever how humans saw the Earth and ourselves. It’s hard for me to imagine how seeing that image affected people seeing it for the first time. Here’s one: Here’s another: Projected images after sea-level rise Can you imagine how we’ll feel about the Earth and ourselves after more sea-level rise? I’m sure you’ve seen[…] Keep reading →

I watched this week: Pimpernel Smith, directed by, produced by, and starring Leslie Howard: Since learning more about Raoul Wallenberg, I wanted to see this movie that inspired him. I watched it twice. The first time it just seemed dated and I didn’t think much of it. The second time I caught more nuance. The closing speech resonated with my view of dominance hierarchies like our polluting, depleting culture and[…] Keep reading →

Earlier this year I posted The Ruling Race: Quotes on those who improve their lives on the suffering of others, corrupting them, with quotes from podcast guest James Oakes’s book The Ruling Race, which describes the demographics, beliefs, and views of slaveholders in the U.S. south. They are no more or less human than you. That book reveals how being on the dominant side of a dominance hierarchy corrupts one’s[…] Keep reading →

If you think anything anyone does has to scale to solve problems globally, you’re lying to yourself. I propose a couple more effective ways to approach what you do. One way: Imagine that no matter what, nothing you do will influence anyone else. Now what should you do? A second way: How does this view make any less sense? “I had a dream I was in 1850 Alabama owning slaves.[…] Keep reading →

Talk about acting more sustainably and people act like it’s hard. When they say “you have to make it easy for people,” they mean you have to make it easy for them. They’re saying that they won’t change, but hiding their intent, acting like they’re just doing what everyone else does. And if all you do is make it easier, it will never be easy enough for them. If you’re[…] Keep reading →

I’ve been copying the travel comments from the newsletters from a friend into a file. I edited out people’s names and put in bold the names of places, but otherwise it’s as he wrote it. What do you think about this lifestyle? I think I once would have aspired to live this way. Even if I didn’t want to fly this much when I flew, I think I would have[…] Keep reading →